What makes LIZ so unique as a pop artist is that she's aware of current trends and most importantly, how and when to use them to her own advantage.

Speaking to LIZ, she displays all the traits attributed to a pop artist - bubbly, full of life and character. Her latest single 'When I Rule The World' is a future pop sound aimed at bringing something fresh to the genre. With odes to Y2K in the video, it's clear that we haven't been treated to this type of tongue-in-cheek, yet unapologetic sound in pop music for a while. What makes LIZ so unique as a pop artist is that she's aware of current trends and most importantly, how and when to use them to her own advantage.

Over the years, the pop landscape has changed considerably. Even the way we listen to music has evolved from the days of recording chart shows just so we could capture our favourite song. With the industry shifting, artists have had to adapt; becoming far more media savvy in the process. A gaff such as Britney and Justin's matching denim look would have been ripped to shreds if Twitter was around back then.

Since signing to Diplo's Mad Decent label, LIZ has been able to naturally gravitate towards pop's biggest artists. The California native has toured with Charli XCX, which on paper, sounds like a teen dream. She's also worked with Pharrell Williams on 'That's My Man', taken from The Amazing Spider-man 2 OST.

Most recently, LIZ worked with Madonna collaborator SOPHIE on her catchy single 'When I Rule The World, who previewed the song at a number of his shows earlier this year, a testament to the work the pair created. "I almost feel like I'm the alt-alt pop star because I'm doing glossy pop music. It feels like that's not a norm anymore and that's weird at this point. It's not really popular right now and I'd love to bring that back." Pop shouldn't feel like a guilty pleasure as is often the case with songs such as 'Friday' by Rebecca Black and 'Gangnam Style', but LIZ brings a sense of authenticity to the table.

At the moment, there definitely appears to be a sort of darkness in pop music that can be seen as 'edgy' or even trendy. Artists such as The Weeknd and Lana Del Rey have certainly played a role in shifting those sounds. "The idea of a pop star has definitely changed a lot, I feel like there's a lot of genre-bending." Whilst she considers herself a pop star first and foremost, LIZ experimented with sounds that allowed her to have a broad experience of what it means to be an artist. "It was important for me to go through those organic stages, just writing on piano and playing a bunch of acoustic shows that helped me get my live chops." Pop requires reinvention, something LIZ is all too aware of. "I feel like a bit of a chameleon in the sense that I like to play around with my voice and just take on the character of the song. On 'When I Rule The World' I had to be different to other characters I've shown in my other stuff, so super playful and tongue-in-cheek. It's like acting."

There's certainly a misconception, especially among music snobs, that many artists are seemingly picked at random to become the 'next big thing'. However, like other musicians who are deemed more artistic, they've often spent years grinding and honing a craft that would eventually take them to the brink of stardom. "I would say everything's come full circle now where I'm really just embracing being a pop baby. Whereas in my teens I felt the need to make darker, moodier and edgier music and concerned with being 'credible'."

Pop music gets a lot of stick for being just that, popular. Often the mainstream is regarded as a mindless hive, with the music seen as a watered down, lite version of something that already exists. Whilst that can sometimes be the case, pop music exists and remains popular because of its ability to bring people together. "I feel like pop music gives people a chance to relate to something in a universal way but allows them to interpret however they want to." That much is true - the world's most revered pop songs over the years have earned such a status for their ability to allow people to relate.

Not at any moment does the video for 'When I Rule The World' feel cringeworthy or corny. Granted, LIZ sees it as being herself, but she's also aware of how ironic it is. "'When I Rule The World' for me was more about making something fresh and future pop." That certainly is the case given that she still remains relatively unknown to wider audiences, proving that pop music is far more than just one catchy song. "I think that it reflects a side to me, that's what's so fun about pop music, you get to show off different colours. I think that artists these days should be able to show off all different bits of themselves, we shouldn't have to pigeonhole ourselves. This song definitely shows off the bratty, feisty, sassy side of me." As far as pop stars go, few are able to have such control over how they portray themselves in their art.

When asked who would make her pop supergroup, she simply replied with Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Pharrell Williams and herself, of course. It's no surprise given the '90s and early noughties influences in LIZ's music. "I loved Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morrisette. The earliest influences in pop were Christina, Britney, Gwen, N Sync, Brandy, TLC, Toni Braxton, Whitney and Mariah. I've always been making pop music, since the beginning but there's always been a soulful element to my voice so I was influenced by certain R&B artists." LIZ's single 'Y2K', produced by LIDO, is an example of how she is able to straddle genre boundaries, whilst eerily sounding like a Brandy throwback.

Seldom are pop artists ever asked what music means to them. It's often assumed that they don't value it enough, hence why they make a type of music that can sometimes sound as if it's being taken from an assembly line. To LIZ, music means much more to her than that. "I have memories of certain things and they're so ingrained within my head and heart because of the music I was listening to at the moment. Music has such a strong association with memories. It's something people can relate to and feel certain emotions which allows them to work things out. It's so incredible and it's one thing that'll never ever end or go away. It's like air and water."